Women At U.n. Still Relegated To Clerical Jobs

October 6, 1985|By Elaine Sciolino, The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — ``During the Inquisition in Spain people were forbidden to talk so that there wouldn`t be conflicts,`` said Mercedes Pulido de Briceno. ``And I have realized that when it comes to women, it`s like the Inquisition here at the U.N.``

As the recently appointed Coordinator for the Improvement of the Status of Women in the United Nations Secretariat, with the rank of assistant secretary general, Pulido de Briceno is undaunted by resistance to her proposals for drastic changes for women in the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the world body.

Pulido de Briceno, a former minister and Cabinet member in the Venezuelan government, acknowledges that her task is difficult: Some U.N. secretaries, the vast majority of them women, are still called upon to help polish the household silver before a dinner party.

Nearly seven years ago, the General Assembly ordered that women should fill one-fourth of all the professional posts in the Secretariat that are subject to ``geographical distribution`` -- that is, posts that are distributed among member states roughly in proportion to their U.N. budget contributions. That target has not been met. By last year, about 700 professional posts, or 22.5 percent of the total, were held by women, up only 0.4 percent since 1982.

Although women comprised 44 percent of the staff at U.N. headquarters last year, most were clustered in secretarial, clerical and service jobs at the bottom of the salary scale. No women are among the 27 under secretaries general, for example; four of the 25 assistant secretaries general are women.

At the end of last year, the average salary for men was $44,000, for women $27,000, according to the Ad Hoc Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations, an organization of staff members who are pressing for changes in the status of women here.

``I knew the situation was bad here, but I didn`t realize how bad,`` said the 47-year-old Pulido de Briceno (pronounced poo-LEE-do deh bree-SANE-yo). ``The problem is that very few women from either developed or developing countries have been sought for high-level positions.``

There are a number of obstacles to women`s recruitment and advancement. The United Nations, for example, is not subject to affirmative action laws, so employees with grievances have no recourse. Pulido de Briceno also contends that women are routinely hired at lower levels than men with the same qualifications and find it more difficult to get promoted. Louis-Pascal Negre, assistant secretary general for personnel, disputes this. ``Maybe there are some cases,`` he said, ``but you can`t generalize.``

At the same time, the normal difficulties faced by all government bureaucracies -- the political maneuvering and resistance to change, for example -- are compounded here because the Secretariat is an international civil service. ``Not only do you have bureaucratic inertia, but you have pressure from 159 nations to put their personnel into key positions,`` said Edward C. Luck, president of the United Nations Association of the United States, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that promotes international accord.

The geographic distribution of jobs at the United Nations has aggravated the problem. Some countries, for example, are ``underrepresented` ` -- that is, they have not filled the minimum number of positions available to them -- and are thus entitled to priority in filling positions. In many cases, however, these countries are reluctant to nominate women, according to U.N. officials.

Of the 313 professionals from Eastern Europe, for example, only 14, or less than 5 percent, are women; of the 685 professionals from Western Europe, 182, or about 26 percent, are women.

Although any qualified individual can apply for a job at the United Nations, many governments would never allow a high-level post that ``belongs`` to them to go to a candidate who was not government-sanctioned.

Governments are generally reluctant to put women who are on their own in a world where cocktail parties, luncheons, late-night committee meetings and formal dinners come with the territory. They fear the possibility of social, cultural and, perhaps, international embarrassments.

There are more subtle impediments to women`s advancement, including cultural attitudes that often muddle the job definition for many who work here, Pulido de Briceno said. Because many officials come from countries where secretaries are little more than servants, their U.N. secretaries, most of them women, are sometimes asked to baby-sit, pick up guests at the airport, run personal errands, help cook and serve at parties and balance the family checkbook.

Pulido de Briceno will report on the status of women to the General Assembly next month, with recommendations for change. She said she will propose that instead of waiting for nations to submit candidates for professional jobs, the United Nations should send recruiters to seek out competent women in countries underrepresented at the United Nations.